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sees Trevor Bingley (Rowan Atkinson) up before the beak for a series of criminal charges, but is he to blame, or is it a pesky bee?
Well, if it wasn’t the bee, we wouldn’t have much of a series, and it begins with him house-sitting at Nina (Jing Lusi) and
and Christian’s (Julian Rhind-Tutt) humble abode… well, palatial abode. It’s rather like one of the overly expensive homes from A Place in the Sun, with an illuminated manuscript in the library which is worth millions, and an E-type Jaguar in the garage that’s worth even more! And they have a dog with a very sensitive stomach.
Naturally, things start to go wrong for Trevor early on, as he spills dog toys all over the place, knocks a priceless artifact over – just saving it at the last second, and then as he starts to relax, the bee turns up… and things start to go break!
He’ll make several attempts to kill the bee, but will any of them work? Well, I presumed that while the series was still running through, the answer would be no. Will he eventually conquer the bee? Well, no spoilers, obviously!
In short, to him, the bee is like Wile E Coyote to Road Runner, and you can spot how certain things will go wrong before they happen, but it’s all about the journey, not the destination. Of course, as you can see from the trailer, it’s very daft and childish, and I certainly wouldkn’t want Trevor in charge of being my housesitter!
When it comes to Mr Atkinson, I never *got* Mr Bean when it first began, but many years down the line, and I laugh like a drain when I see it. And when I first saw the trailer for this new almost-zero-dialogue comedy, I giggled like I Was five years old. In fact, kids of all ages will love it.
I expect Season 2 will be commissioned before too long, but who would hire him after this escapade? Either way, it’s dumb fun, and absolutely brilliant.
Oh, and definitely more Jing Lusi, please!
Man Vs Bee is set over 9 episodes of between 10-20 minutes in length, with these lengths being very random, such as 17 minutes for the first episode and just over 8 for the second and most of the remaining ones.
As an aside, since he’s expected to sleep in the maid’s quarters, which also doubles as a utility room, given that the washing machine was on when he went in, I do wonder how long it should really last, given that it must’ve been put on about 12 hours earlier by the owners… but then why would someone put the washing machine on just as they’re about to go on holiday? But I digress…
And of course, while I was watching this in the evening, and the window was open, a bloody fly came in…
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Man Vs Bee is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Friday June 24th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 10-20 minutes per episode (9 episodes)
Release date: June 24th 2022
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Director: David Kerr
Creators/Writers: Rowan Atkinson, Will Davies
Writer: Will Davies
Music: Lorne Balfe
Cast:
Trevor Bingley: Rowan Atkinson
Lewis: Daniel Fearn
Nina Kolstad-Bergenbatten: Jing Lusi
Christian Kolstad-Bergenbatten: Julian Rhind-Tutt
Maddy: India Fowler
Jess: Claudie Blakley
Coleman: Greg McHugh
Police Officer: Tom Basden
Judge: Chizzy Akudolu
Detective: Aysha Kala
Prisoner 1968: Tony McCarthy
Builder: Lee Byford
Eric: Brendan Murphy
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.